Cost effective photoshop

I have been looking at the cost of photoshop and for me it seems prohibitively expensive. Is there a way to make a more cost effective purchase. For example Office 2003 is now free: are there older versions of PS that are available cheaper. Is OEM copies an option?

You can buy older versions of PS as second hand, but you run the risk of it being dodgy.

I know it isn't in the scope of your original question, but if you are looking at a package for photo editing, then I would suggest downloading and experimenting with the free trial of Lightroom 4. This does almost all most photographer want and is considerably more cost effective.

If you are looking more at a graphic design package, perhaps Photoshop Elements?

If you have no photoshop experience, I would go with Elements as you can get it fir < $99USD. As time goes by, you may want to graduate to PS. As an Elements user, Adobe would run a $299 upgrade option from elements to PS a couple of times a year. That is when I made ge move.

Another option would be to look at Adobe prescription option. Ypu can get PS by it self for $20/month